Napa Valley, Penfolds and great Bordeaux wines to feature in US auction

Tomorrow’s wine sale is set to be a global one with bottles from America, Australia & France

Leland Little is gearing up for a sale of fine wine tomorrow at their North Carolina auction house in the US.

It's an event that's set to offer collectors, a variety of investment grade wines from around the world.

The Opus One 1997 Vintage

For starters, wines from the Napa Valley of California will be up for sale at excellent entry level prices.

The standout American lot is a six bottle collection of the 1997 vintage of the Californian wine, Opus One.

Described by one critic as "A rich, decidedly earthy style" which has a "focused and complex" flavour, the wine scored 94 points in Wine Spectator magazine.

With 4 of the bottles featuring their original tissue cover, this lot carries a pre-auction estimated price of £515 - 640 ($800 - $1,000).

Australian wine is also represented at the sale, with a four bottle lot Penfold Grange 1998 vintage.

This particular wine comes highly regarded by critic Robert Parker who stated in his review that:

"The 1998 Grange will be legendary. As the wine sits in the glass, aromas of meat, plums and cola also emerge. It is a seamless effort...an all time classic"

The lot carries an estimated price of £450 - 640 ($700 - 1,000). However with Parker giving the vintage a score of 99 points out of 100, these bottles could well exceed this target price.

Tomorrow's sale also boasts a host of lots from France, for investors in the more traditional Bordeaux wines.

The Mouton Rothchild 1996 vintage

One standout is a five bottle set of the 1980 vintage of the Chateau Lafite Rothschild. Auctions over the past couple of years have seen impressive prices for the wine from this Chateau and Friday's event could prove no exception.

Collectors may also be interested to note that this lot carries a relatively low estimated price of £450 - 640 ($700 - $1,000), marking it out as an ideal entry level Bordeaux wine investment.

The similarly popular Chateau Mouton Rothschild is also set to feature, with seven bottles of the 1996 vintage carrying a target price of £640 - 960 ($1,000 - 1,500).

This vintage comes highly recommended by Robert Parker, who described the wine as "full bodied with very ripe almost sweet fruit and a long, long caressing finish."

Yet the two top lots at the sale surpass even this collection for quality with both coming from the Haut Brion region of Graves in Bordeaux, France.

The first is a 3 bottle set of the Chateau Haut Brion's 1990 vintage.

In his review, Parker described the wine as offering "an aromatic explosion that is unparalleled" describing the vintage as "rich, full bodied, opulent, even flamboyant" and awarding it 98 points out of 100.

Friday's lot carries an estimated price of £640 - 770 ($1,000 - 1,200) and is one not to miss.

Even more impressive, is the 3 bottle collection from the Chateau La Mission Haut Brion's 1982 vintage which will come up at the auction.

The Chateau La Mission Haut Brion 1982 Vintage

In this instance Parker scored the wine with a perfect 100 points out of 100, praising it's "layered texture and incredible depth of fruit and glycerine" amongst many other things.

This near perfect lot carries a target price of £770 - 1,160 ($1,200 - $1,800) and is on course to be the main attraction for wine collectors and investors alike.

Tomorrow's sale begins at 3.00pm Pacific time and bidding is available online.

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Image: Leland Little